


Apologies

by spacedaydreamer



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games), Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward - Fandom
Genre: Gen, clover's POV for luna's end after the second AB game, more the blood part than the gore though, really just blood actually, some description of blood and gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 02:24:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9361682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedaydreamer/pseuds/spacedaydreamer
Summary: “Luna… please. I just want you to tell me the truth.” She could never accept the truth- maybe she already knew what it was, deep down, but she could never accept it. There were some truths that were just far, far too cruel for Clover to accept.





	

“Luna… please. I just want you to tell me the truth.”

They were alone in the crew quarters, Clover facing the other woman with the injection gun clasped tightly in her hands. She didn’t want to use it- she’d only brought it along to intimidate Luna.

“Just admit it, Luna. I just want to know why- why did you kill Alice?”

She was scared, confused, and utterly alone. She hadn’t been able to contact Light once since waking up in this nonary game, and now the only person she trusted was dead. At first, Clover had liked Luna- she’d seemed really nice and trustworthy, and she’d picked Ally twice- so _why?_ Why had she killed her?

“Clover, please... I didn’t kill Alice.”

“ _LIAR!_ Her death _only_ makes sense if it was you… because it was your AB room that was moved.”

“H-huh?”

“That’s what Alice noticed, before she died. The AB room the old woman was in- it was yours. I don’t know how it moved, but the only reason it would move would be to benefit you.”

Luna looked torn- as if she desperately _wanted_ to say something, but couldn’t. Clover didn’t know why, but it hurt so much to see…

“I couldn’t tell you why my room was moved, or how the Old Woman got in there, Clover. I didn’t kill her, and I didn’t kill Alice.”

Clover’s hands clenched harder on the injection gun, as she tried to keep her hands from shaking. Why was Luna so calm about this? Why? _Why?!_

“Then who did? It doesn’t make sense for anyone else, but do try to explain, Luna.”

“I really can’t say how the Old Woman died, but Alice… she killed herself.”

“Wh-what?”

Clover could feel her heart stop. That was impossible. There was no way, no _way_ that Alice would kill herself. Alice was strong, she was a million times stronger than Clover was- what possible reason could she have to commit suicide? That was insane! _It made no sense._ And yet, Luna continued to talk…

“She was infected by a virus- Radical-6. One of the main symptoms associated with the virus is an uncontrollable desire to end one’s own life…”

Luna’s fingers were laced, but she wasn’t looking at Clover. It was as if she wanted to look anywhere else- _why?_ Seeing Luna sad like that made Clover’s heart ache, and she didn’t know why. Nothing made sense, the world had gone insane, and she’d probably gone with it.

“You… you’re wrong. That’s impossible, there’s no way Alice got infected with that. You’re lying. You… you have to be. _You have to be lying.”_

Her eyes darted down to Alice who was still lying dead along the side of the room. Suicide _would_ explain the state of the body, and why Alice’s clothes weren’t too disturbed and there were no signs of a struggle… no, what was she thinking? It couldn’t be suicide! Alice _wouldn’t_ leave her all alone! She just wouldn’t!

“Clover, I’m telling the truth. Please… please believe me.”

“ _NO!_ It’s impossible, I refuse to accept that- _Alice wouldn’t leave me behind like that! She wouldn’t!”_

Tears were streaming down Clover’s face, and she knew that she was losing her reason. Luna’s explanation made sense, and she hated it, she _despised_ that it made sense. It was too cruel, too unfair.

“I’m… I’m really sorry, Clover. I know you have to be going through a lot…”

Luna reached out an arm to try to comfort her, and she snapped. Her body moved without thinking, and she shoved the injection gun up, pointed directly at the other woman. Luna reacted as one would expect, grabbing onto the gun and trying to point it away from herself.

“C-Clover, please! Put the gun down!”

_“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up shut up!!!”_

She didn’t know why she pulled the trigger, but she felt what was left of her heart fracture into a thousand pieces when Luna collapsed to the ground.

“Wh-what? N-no… no… this is… L-Luna? Luna, please… please, wake up…”

She fell to her knees and started shaking her, desperate to wake Luna up once more. She had to be alive, she just _had_ to be- never mind the fact that she wasn’t breathing, ignore the fact that she couldn’t feel a pulse… Luna was alive. She had to be.

“Th-the AED! I-I’ll be right back, Luna. I promise, so please… please, don’t be dead…”

Clover wasn’t sure why she cared so much. Luna was a stranger, right? Logically, there was no reason to care for a stranger- especially one who’d killed Alice and the Old Woman. However, it seemed that her emotions and her logic never liked to match up- she’d nearly made a horrible mistake in the second nonary game, and now she’d gone through with a terrible mistake here in the third. She wanted to scream at herself, to question how she could be so impulsive and stupid, but a second wasted on self-loathing was a second that could be spent to save Luna’s life.

Without further delay, Clover sped off to the infirmary. She passed by Dio in the hall but ignored him- she couldn’t waste time dealing with that asshole. He’d just slow her down, she needed to save Luna- she couldn’t save Alice, but she could at least save Luna.

“Where is it… where is it… there!”

It had taken her longer than she would’ve liked to find the defibrillator, but once she located it, it was only a matter of removing it from its case and bringing it back to Luna. She still had time, she had a chance-

“Going somewhere?”

“Ugh- what do _you_ want, Dio? I don’t have time for this.”

“Aw, is that really any way to greet a friend?”

Clover just glared at him and tried to push past him, but he grabbed onto her wrist and refused to let go.

“Y’know, you really did a number on Luna back there. Don’t see why you think there’s any point to _that,_ though. She’s a goner.”

“Sh-shut up! You don’t know that, and the longer you hold me up the less chance she has of living. Let me go, Dio.”

“No.”

Clover stared at him, and she felt her blood run cold. There was something truly terrifying about Dio’s face- it was the same casual look he always had, yet his eyes were cold and calculating. It was as if he didn’t even consider her _human_ , just something to be used. They were eyes that reminded her of Hongou- the eyes of a demon.

“I said, let me _go!”_

His eyes may have been the same, but Clover wasn’t. She’d spent the last year training- even if she wasn’t perfect, she was still braver. She couldn’t just stand still, so she did her best to wrench her arm from his grip- it worked, but it seemed like that may have been the wrong choice. Once she’d gotten her arm free, he’d pulled out a knife and pointed it directly at her neck.

“And I said _no_. You’d better listen this time, you little bitch, or I’ll slice your fucking neck open.”

She couldn’t move. Why? Why was she so helpless? Why was it that no matter what she did, no matter how long she spent trying to train, to overcome herself, in the end it was all a waste? Her first mission had been a horrific failure, and her second had resulted in _this_ \- Clover was a failure.

“What the hell are you doing, Dio?”

It was a low voice, but familiar- Tenmyouji. He’d entered the infirmary (presumably looking for Quark), but he hadn’t even paused a second before charging at Dio, knocking him out of the way enough for Clover to move.

“Grk- You old _bastard!_ ”

Clover was frozen in place, watching the two of them fight. Tenmyouji was surprisingly agile and strong for his age, but there was a clear difference in ability. Dio was younger and faster, and he was finally able to wind Tenmyouji, slamming a fist into his stomach.

Watching him collapse to the ground seemed to break the spell, and she rushed forwards- if she could just get that knife! She tried to grab Dio, to pull the knife away, but she wasn’t fast enough. He threw her back with ease, and she slammed into the sink- her entire body was screaming in pain and she couldn’t move, unable to focus on anything else.

“Hmm… yeah, I think I’ve got the perfect idea for you two.”

Clover offered no resistance as she felt something cold and metal clasp around her wrist, only focused on the pain. She felt her arm raised upwards, but she still couldn’t move- oh _god_ , everything hurt.

Her arm jerked sideways suddenly and she heard a yelp of pain- it was Tenmyouji. She could smell blood- had he been stabbed? Forcing herself to shift upwards, she looked over- He’d grabbed onto the knife in a last ditch effort to get it away from Dio, but it was no use. All he’d managed to do was injure himself further, a deep cut oozing blood from his palm.

“There, that looks nice. Now, I think we’ve got… say, a half hour until the primary doors open? If I were you, I’d start screaming real loud.”

His face was pure sadistic glee, distorted into something inhuman that was horrifying to look at.

“Actually… here’s an idea. Clover. You _really_ wanted to save Luna, right? Maybe if you cut off your hand… or, no- If you kill the old bastard there, I’ll let you free. It’s not like he’s got that long left, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. It’s be easy, too… you could slit his throat, or maybe one easy stab between the ribs? If you _really_ wanted to take your anger out, I’m sure you could torture him as much as you wanted. Have fun with it, you know? Get _creative_.”

Clover was trembling, unable to really process what Dio was saying. He wanted her to kill Tenmyouji? No… no, there was no way she could do that. It was impossible, because… because Tenmyouji was...

“I-I… I won’t.”

“It’s a real shame, I would’ve loved to watch him scream- but fine, suit yourself. Better hope that someone finds you two quick, then.”

With that Dio walked out of the room, leaving Clover and Tenmyouji alone, chained together beneath the sink.

“…he’s right, you know. I’ve lived a long life, but you’re still young…”

“You know I could never kill you. Even… even though you betrayed me, you’re still Junpei… right?”

He signed and nodded, looking older than ever.

“Junpei… how did you get so… old? What’s going on?”

He looked like he was deep in thought, but he seemed to have come to a conclusion. Apparently, whatever had been holding him back from talking earlier didn’t matter anymore.

“First off, it’s not 2028. It’s January 25th, 2074. Zero made me swear not to tell, or he’d kill me- but it’s not like he can do anything to me now.”

“Wh-what? You… You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

“Unfortunately, no. The world was devastated by Radical-6, which led to people simultaneously setting off all the antimatter reactors in the world, sending it into a nuclear winter. That lasted for seven long years, and even now the earth is still in recovery… you missed a lot, Clover.”

“That’s… no… no way…”

It was too hard to believe, and yet it was the only thing that made sense. It was the only way Junpei could be here with a picture of Akane Kurashiki and full knowledge of the second nonary game, yet be that old.

“I’m sorry, Clover. That things turned out like this.”

She shook her head, trying to fight back tears.

“No, it’s… its not your fault. It’s mine- if I’d only just used my brain for once in my life, then this wouldn’t have happened, and Luna- Luna would…”

It was the first time Clover had really let her mind focus on Luna since Dio had stopped her, and she wasn’t able to hold back the sobs any longer. Junpei looked torn; he didn’t seem to know what to do, or how to comfort her. He’d always been like that, though- Clover remembered how he’d awkwardly stood there while Clover had hugged him in Building Q, not sure of what the proper thing to do was. Even with time, it seemed some parts of Junpei would never change…

“L-Luna… Luna, I’m s-so sorry…. I-I… I just…”

There was no justification. She’d killed Luna, and it was all for naught- she couldn’t deny that it had likely been just as she’d said any longer, which meant she hadn’t even gotten revenge for Alice- that was impossible. All she’d done was become a murderer, and killed a person who’d done nothing wrong.

Junpei didn’t say anything- there was nothing he could possibly say to make her feel any better, anything he tried would just be a waste of breath. Clover didn’t stop crying even as time continued to pass, the tears only stopping when she felt the bracelet finally inject her- first would be the soporil. Her body felt sluggish and heavy already, but she wasn’t despairing: she would have preferred it if Junpei could make it out alive, but at least for her this was fitting punishment.

“Junpei… can… I see… your hand?”

It was hard to speak, but she forced her body to move. There was no hope left- they were _going_ to die, which meant the only thing she was still able to do was at least point out who _their_ killer was. Junpei nodded slowly, and held up the bleeding hand with visible effort. Clover coated her finger in his blood, trying not to cringe as she did so, before moving her hand to her leg, forcing herself to write.

‘ _d I o’_

“There… that’s… all I can do… Sorry, Junpei…”

There’d been a shift in weight on her arm- he’d already passed out, so it would seem. She could tell she wasn’t much further off, the anesthetic working much to quickly for her liking.

“Alice… Luna… I’m… so… so…rry………”

With that, she blacked out, never to wake up again.

**Author's Note:**

> So i think about Clover in VLR a lot. from what we see, she tends to jump to conclusions and make bad choices easily. However, I've always liked to think of it more as she's just lying to herself- she knows the truth, but she can't accept it. The reason she eventually comes to terms with it when Sigma gets Phi to read the journal is like why she comes to terms with it when Junpei speaks; when you're faced with proof like that you can't keep lying to yourself any longer.
> 
> I worry for her, a lot. Just like I worry about literally every other character like seriously help them please.


End file.
